Viva Las Vegas

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It really is amazing what can come from a really bad day at work. Or, in our case, two really bad days at work. On an evening midway through a random work week just a week or two ago, Matt and I concluded that we needed some form of intervention or rejuvenation from the burned out zombies that we were quickly becoming. Twenty minutes later, we found ourselves printing out the confirmation pages of a weekend getaway to none other than Sin City itself. Viva Las Vegas!

I wish I could boast and brag about how we found an amazing deal, but no dice (pun intended). Airfare was around $350 per person for a direct flight from FLL to Las Vegas. There were in fact cheaper flights available but the times of ours allowed us flexibility from not taking anytime off work if we so chose. We departed at 7:55 PM with a return flight Sunday night arriving back to Florida early Monday morning. The one deal that we did get was with the hotel. As I've mentioned in earlier entries, Hotels.com offers a 10 nights/one free night deal. Luckily for us, we had stayed 10 nights and had a $111.00 credit ready to use. This brought our cost at the Luxor down to about $300.00 including all the taxes and fees. Not bad for a last minute trip to Vegas!

Lodging:
As mentioned earlier, we stayed at the Luxor for this particular trip. The Luxor is located down by Mandalay Bay, New York New York and Excalibur. Mandalay Bay, Luxor and Excalibur are actually all linked together via a mini monorail system which eliminates some walking. The location of the Luxor is decent although it is a good walk to the main part of the strip. I believe from the Luxor to The Wynn it's a 2.5 mile walk one way. I wouldn't advise doing this in heels (as learned by me the hard way).

The Luxor itself was a pretty impressive hotel inside for being relatively old. Since it's shaped like a pyramid, floors 5+ have an inclinator in lieu of a standard elevator. Our room was on the second floor but we hitched a ride with another guest to experience the inclinator, definitely an interesting experience! Our room was pretty dated and nothing to really brag about. In January, I stayed at the Venetian for work and those rooms are amazing! If the price is right, we would probably stay here again, although we really hope to try Caesar's Palace as well.

Dining:
Our first meal was actually on the Delta flight. Matt was asleep so I ordered the chicken and Turkey cuban sandwich for $8. 00. It was surprisingly delicious for airline food and reasonably priced. Unfortunately, once Matt awoke and decided he also wanted a sandwich they were sold out. 😞

Since Matt and I weren't so lucky at the tables this trip, we went pretty cheap on food and mostly opted for Chiptole, Subway, Quiznos, etc... which was fine by me.

Entertainment
I feel like this trip to Vegas can pretty much be summed up by walking. We walked SO much up and down the strip! We tried our hands at slots, Black Jack, Roulette and a few other games but didn't exactly have the best of luck. We did however learn some very important Vegas lessons: (1) If a new dealer comes in and there's a bad vibe, there's a reason, LEAVE! (2) Only play with the winnings if possible. (3) Grab the waitresses while you can, they are far and few between these days in the casinos. Other than gambling, we mostly explored and shopped. The shopping in Vegas is truly amazing! Near our hotel is a new area called "City Center" which looked pretty impressive and I would be interested in checking out during our next trip. I would also be interested in seeing some shows next visit. We wanted to see Bodies and Carrot Top (both at the Luxor) but never got around to either. We did try an Oxygen Bar in New York New York which was pretty cool.

All in all it was a very fun trip despite our lack of winnings. We can't wait to head back to Sin City soon!

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